representative marine regions, the international Census of Marine Life documents an average of 10,000 known species in each region, including 1,200 new species. And based on how easily scientists are still finding new species, the census authors say the range of unknown species is probably staggeringly larger. Researchers hope the new inventory, published in 12 papers in the online journal PLoS ONE, will help guide future exploration of the world’s unexplored waters, especially at abyssal depths. According to the census, the waters of Australia and Japan represent the most biodiverse regions of the world, with nearly 33,000 known species each. The next most biodiverse regions are the oceans off China, the Mediterranean Sea, and the Gulf of Mexico, which was examined before the BP oil spill.

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The Warriors of Qiugang, a Yale Environment 360 video, chronicles a Chinese village’s fight against a polluting chemical plant. It was nominated for a 2011 Academy Award for Best Documentary Short.
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